Stock markets went on a wild ride Friday after former national security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents about his conversations with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
The DOW Jones Industrial Average dropped to session lows at 24,000 before recovering upon Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s announcement that Republicans in the upper chamber will have enough votes to pass tax reform.
The S&P 500 fell over 50 points but has since recovered over half of its loss as of 2:50 PM.
This reaction in the markets has continued the trend of sellers creating an opportunity for buyers in response to drama from the Trump administration. Even though investors woke up to unexpected news of Flynn’s guilty plea, the DOW Jones is still over the 24,000 point benchmark that Trump proudly tweeted about Thursday.
Our FIFTH 1K milestone of 2017!#DOW24K #MAGA pic.twitter.com/NoVt1uFp0y
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 30, 2017
However, not all investors are certain that the Trump train will keep moving forward. The CBOE Volatility Index, often used to measure investor fear and uncertainty, jumped 16 percent higher in response to the development of the Trump-Russia probe.
We have yet to hear everything Flynn has to say about the Trump administration, but investors have taken some precautionary measures by investing in “safe haven” assets, such as gold, bonds, and even Bitcoin.
For now, it looks like Flynn’s guilty plea wasn’t enough to stump the Trump rally.